1. The sound of the initial or beginning of what was originally a picture-symbol or hieroglyph of an object to represent phonetically the initial syllable or sound of the name of the object; e.g. employing the symbol of an ox, aleph, to represent the syllable or letter.
2. The naming of a letter by a word whose initial sound is the same as that which the letter represents.

Stiffness and tightness of the skin of the fingers, with atrophy of the soft tissue and osteoporosis of the distal phalanges of the hands and feet; a limited form of progressive systemic sclerosis occurring with Raynaud’s phenomenon.

If you would like to take a self-scoring quiz over many of the words in this unit, then click Acro- Quiz.